Bazin solos to Vermont victory

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The first New England UCI race brought some of the big local names out of the woodwork. Freshly minted Rapha/Focus racer Jeremy Powers came up after a couple late nights in Las Vegas.

Local product and former teammate of Powers, Jamey Driscoll (Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld.com) came with hopes of taking victory on his home turf.

New England workingman’s favorite Justin Lindine (bikereg.com/Joe’s Garage) had hopes of doubling-up on his weekend while New Hampshire native Ted King (Liquigas/Cannondale/iamtedking.com) decided to reacquaint himself with the dirt in the wake of a successful road season.

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The wild cards for the field were the European contingent. Joachim Parbo (Challenge Tires) of Denmark came back east from Las Vegas for today’s racing while Frenchman Nicolas Bazin arrived for his American campaign on Wednesday and kicked off today in Vermont.

The race got underway with Jeremy Powers taking the holeshot and leading the field through most of the first lap. Even in the opening couple of minutes, it was clear that Powers, Driscoll and Bazin had form that was a cut above the rest. The surprise was that, from the chase group behind emerged Justin Lindine, who, following an early mechanical, bridged to the leaders as the gap to the rest of the field grew.

While the four duked it out at the front, Parbo, King, Johs Huseby (Cyclocrossworld), Josh Dillon (RGM Watches/Richard Sachs), Luke Keough (Champion System p/b Keough Cyclocross) and Adam Myerson (SmartStop/MOB Cyclocross) fought for the remaining UCI points on offer.

At the front, Driscoll made an attack typical of his style. A hard attack with four laps remaining that netted an advantage of fifteen seconds. For two laps, his companions let the leash loose, but Powers drove hard to bring it in, knowing that Driscoll’s only chance at victory would be through a solo move. Powers dragged the other leaders back to Driscoll’s wheel only to have Bazin launch an attack of his own through the finishing straight with two laps remaining.

Bazin, who sports an impressive palmares and has represented France at the World Championships in the past, made his move count and maintained an advantage for the final lap and came across for the win in his first race on American soil. Behind, Powers bested Driscoll and Lindine for second with Driscoll rounding out the podium and Lindine fourth.

In the second group on the course, Ted King took full advantage of the long power sections on the course and in his words “lost ten seconds going into each corner but picked up fifteen coming out of each.” His surging style broke the group and King rode away for fifth. Keough, Parbo, Dillon and Huseby rounded out the group as Myerson was forced to abandon following an unfortunate late-race crash.

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